Saif Khalid, a patriotic Indian writes here on the predicament of those who want to stay away from the missions, the purges and typecasting of Indian media:

Terrorists once again played with deadly bombs in Delhi on September 13, bringing the usual destruction of life and property. By now, we Indians have become quite accustomed to death and destruction — man made or natural.
My very first reaction was: Will it be Indian Mujahideen (IM) once again? Within minutes of the blasts IM claimed it was behind the savagery. I felt like crying and shouting from the rooftop that whatever the terrorists have done in the name of Islam was wrong; that I am an Indian, who also happens to be a Muslim. I would not rejoice at the bleeding of my very own countrymen.Then, exactly six days later at around 11 am I was awakened by the cacophonic sound of my mobile. My colleague was on phone and asking: Are you okay? There’s an encounter going on in your area. The news snatched away my sleep; it became a victim of terror.

Then followed a barrage of calls from my friends — most of them Hindus — to enquire about my well-being. I was so embarrassed, uncomfortable, conscious of a strange guilt, defensive and uneasy. And, I was staying in an area being projected as the “safe haven” for terrorists.

How could I gulp the hard fact that my neighbours were those who had partied over the killing of innocent people? Jamia Nagar was on the national map within hours of the encounter and that also for the worst possible reason.

Then came the psychological bomb — one of the terrorists caught following the police encounter was my namesake. I cannot describe the feeling that I underwent the moment the name Saif was splashed across various news channels. “What the hell?” I could react thus.

The nightmare was not over. At work, while moderating comments on many stories on the incident and its aftermath it was difficult to ignore the bombardment of nasty comments against Muslims. Almost 95 per cent of them demonised Muslims and a major chunk of the surfers suggested that Muslims be thrown out of India. The ground beneath my feet shook. I kept working, but nothing registered. I wanted to cry. I felt like a helpless alien in my own country. I had never thought of myself as being part of anything but the mainstream — the very premise of that was crumbling in front of me.

That day, the usually intrepid journalist in me lost out to the bewildered youth. I did not feel like going to Batla House (the place of the encounter), as I was hugely disturbed. For the first time in my life I felt that I was the “other,” or so I was made to feel. And that I was the “enemy within,” was a suspect, a potential terrorist and that, the phrase “terrorists have no religion” was no longer valid.

The more the media discussed about the terrorists’ profiles, the more insecure I felt. Now the terrorists were no longer some gun-toting, bearded, rustic and madrassa-educated lot. They were suave, university-educated, guy-next-door types.

The new face of terror has really put the moderate, peace-loving Muslim youth in a quandary.

The day after the encounter, I actually went to Batla House in Jamia Nagar to take stock of the situation myself. People were wary of talking to strangers, the now proverbial “siege within” was obvious, the near absence of trust in policemen was alarming and the air was filled with various conspiracy theories alleged to have been hatched by the government.

In fact, the complete lack of trust in police among the people in the area is an alarming situation; it’s a complete communalisation of their outlook. The sooner the government acts, the better it would be for the country.

I found myself so out of place here but even then I could not consider them as the “other”. In fact, they are Indians like you and me. It’s only their low level of education and thereby the lack of job opportunities that have perpetually marginalised them.

This area is a forced ghetto where affluent, poor, students, teachers are crammed in such a small space. What has been the government’s initiative to bring this huge area to the mainstream? Instead the government’s apathy is palpable — the entire area has just one ATM (SBI) and there is no resident welfare association. The UPA government’s token gesture to open up more bank branches in Muslim areas actually drew the Opposition’s ire for what they called “Muslim appeasement”. Tour of the area to know how liberally Muslims have indeed been appeased by successive governments since Independence. There are no civic amenities, large parts of the area do not even get MCD water supply and in this area talking about parks would be a big joke.

Terrorists are a fringe minority — they do not belong to communities. They function outside of communities. Most educated Muslim youth are like I am — your co-worker with corporate dreams, social dreams of working alongside every Indian to build a great nation. Putting all the blame on all Muslims is easier option, but it will not help in bringing India’s largest minority out of their current morass.

The fight against terror will be fought on various fronts and Muslims’ continued backwardness will certainly not help the cause. The discourse of “us and them” needs to change. Bracketing Muslims as the “other” will only continue to aggravate the problem. Lets consider it as our problem, India’s problem; and work together to defeat the cancer of communalism, mistrust and terrorism.

(Saif Khalid is a Senior Copy Editor with NDTV.com. The views expressed here are his own and not of NDTV.)

31 thoughts on “The dilemma of an educated [Indian] Muslim youth”

Saif,I get an uneasy feeling that the sudden spurt in violence against Christians on one hand and the bomb blasts in which Muslims have been implicated are going to get only worse as we lurch towards the elections.This is good old vote bank politics,divide and rule ideology of the Congress and politicians like Arjun Singh that is at work.If Hindu and Muslims fight with each other and the Christians also turn anti Hindu then BJP gets discredited totally and Congress wins.
And why will government do anything for your community or for any one mired in poverty and backwardness.Phir vote kahan se aayenge agar sab smajhdaar ho gaye?
We are all victims in this game of destructive politics.Jeet kisi ki bhi nahin.

Yatha Raja – Yatha Praja… (Know a nation by its leader). I want to reverse it and say… Yatha Praja – Yatha Raja. It is so idealistic and romantic to say : “Good people must join politics”… one has to get into the gutters, to clean the clogged drains, etc. But who will bell the cat ?

I read the article by Saif – the horrible feeling of experiencing fear and guilt, terror and panic, for no fault. The strategy of RSS is to damage and dent the muslim psyche on a day-to-day basis and thereby destroy their confidence. Get afraid and feel guilty for no fault. It is a psychological weapon. To keep them on their toes… and never afford indian muslims the luxury to plan long-term. Bash them daily – keep them on their toes ! Thats the strategy.

Stereo-typing (why were people caught covered with arabic head-scarves ? is Shivraj Patil the costume designer ?.. what does it connote.. ) 24×7 news channels repeating same news for hours on end. What is all this leading to ? Anarchy and Civil War.

Continuous hatred / stereo-typing and injecting hate on a daily basis sends a signal. A signal to the ordinary Hindu… fill his head and heart with SO much anger, that when he sees a Muslim on the road / in a bus / etc., he would start beating him mercilessly. Others join him and lynch the man… who might be wearing a kurta-pyjama, have a beard, or a skull cap. That is the end-result RSS wants on the streets of India. Inject “brutality” into the Hindu Psyche, provide the intellectual basis and sanction for Hindus to literally kill Muslims… and feel no guilt later. Go into a state of denial. Justify it with correcting perceived historic wrongs. Settling Scores Theory. Teaching Lessons Theory. Infact, a virtue done.

An average Hindu is as peace-loving as an average Muslim. Yet, the average Hindu is only human. You are sending a signal… You fill heads and hearts with hatred. Police Tumhare Saath Hai reverberates in the air. They see, how effective the Law is. (Mumbai Riots Criminals still roaming free… perpetrators of Gujarat Genocide.. still roaming free… Preachers like Togadia and Singhal provided Top Security funded by the tax-payer). So, the fear of the “Law” per-se is gone. This encourages a desire to indulge in some “machismo”… go for mob-violence.. kill.. burn.. rape… (The justification for these acts is already provided, on an intellectual plane.. i referred to above).

What does this 24×7 repitition, showing visuals., provocative comments all lead to ? It sends a signal… take law into your own hands… and kill the perpetrators (i.e. the Indian Muslims).

When RSS workers were caught in Kanpur making bombs, why did it not make to front page news ? Why did the Nanded and Parbhani revelations [VHP/Bajrang Dal workers making bombs] not make it to prime-time news… or breaking news ?

Some say : Muslims must have their own news channels. Why ? Is there a separate Hindu Truth and a separate Muslim Truth. NO… Truth is one…. and absolute.

The toothpaste cannot be put back into the tube. I realise that… “Starve terrorists of publicity”, said Margaret Thatcher. She was right. 24×7 News Channels are encouraging stereo-types. Reporting must be balanced. They are catching people first., and finding evidence later ! The average Indian Citizen does not trust the police version at all. Why ? Go to any police station anywhere in india., and the way the policeman behaves explains it all. There is a complete disconnect between the public and the police.

The average indian knows the real character of the indian policeman. The average indian knows about the fake-encounters. I say., catch the culprits… and bring them to justice in a fair criminal trial. Make it fast. Dont let it drag on for years., but arrest the criminals [and not innocent people – just for the show] and let the law take its course. Do not go for fake encounters to prove that the Govt. is alert.

It seems the Congress Govt. is emulating Narendra Modi style of governance. If he can have fake encounters in Gujarat (where the Indian Constitution does not apply in spirit), they can do the same in Delhi ! It has become a competition. Who can be more evil… Criminals and perpetrators of crimes must be caught and law must take its course. The difference in treatment of criminals exposes the stark reality and the weakness. Mumbai blasts criminals are brought to book. This is great. However perpetrators of Mumbai riots are roaming freely. That stark contrast exposes the ugly truth. That must be corrected. A criminal of any hue / shade / religious persuasion / ideology / whatever must be brought to book. That serves as a deterrant. However when a culture of “Police Tumhare Saath Hai”., and the macho “fake encounters” gains currency., that society can never have peace.

Why were there no terrorist attacks during the time of Jawaharlal Nehru. People had grievances then too… That is because people had some faith in the “system”. In India who believes in the integrity of the Police… tell me. How can that happen when it conducts Fake Encounters ? It is a crisis of identity.

As elections are drawing to a close, the BJP / RSS (hard hindutva)., aided and abetted by the Congress (soft Hindutva) will have a competition. Who is “more” Hindu… (implying : who hates muslims more, i.e.).

Indians are educated – but they are not seeing the dirty games played by the politicians. That means the people are bad themselves. That exposes a character flaw. For the past 80 years, RSS has been injecting hatred for the “other” (muslims) on a daily basis. That has altered the DNA genome and corrupted it.. and it is bearing fruits now. RSS has conquered the minds of the average Hindu. Political Power is the next station.

It seems that the entire world is RSS .. isnt it ..
why cant Mr Saif can see stand up for reformation for the identity he belongs to.
I am not a great fan of RSS but RSS stands for the “reaction” of Hindu Mind . they stand for in defence .. which is reactionary ..

once the provocation ends .. Reactionary Forces will not be relevent anymore
but as they say billi ke gale me ghanti koun Bandhe ..
Pakistani society is a good example of this lethargy .. they never got up to do introspect of their own mind .. but always blamed someone ..
look where have they reached .. I wish someone from them will stand up to make them understand .. what have they become

There is bound to be scepticism regarding the version of the encounter given out by the police, especially after finding out about the contents of the autopsy reports of Inspector Mohan Sharma as well as the so-called terrorists. Apparently, the bullets that hit Inspector Sharma were fired from behind him as these entered his body from the back-side and exited from the front, as per his autopsy report. Also, internal stomach injuries and injuries on the feet of one of the so-called terrorists, according to the doctors that carried out the autopsy, point towards the fact that he was beaten up badly before being shot dead.

I don’t see any benefit that Muslim community will reap out of serial bombings but political parties who want to create panic and thereby want polarize votes of communities across India will definitely reap electoral gains. One has to see this in the backdrop of the coming General Election and Assembly elections in many states.

Noble Laureate Amartya Sen rightly said : â€œwhen an incident happens don’t see who has done that, but see who will be benefited by that episode and then you will get a clue to the people who may be behind that incidentâ€.

The future is going to be of political Right wing forces (RSS & Co.) who want to rule India by destroying communal harmony which is the civilization heritage of Modern India.

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